


Til The End Of The Earth

by Tyrioo



Category: Charon Docks At Daylight - Zoe Reed
Genre: F/F, cdad, this is pure pain but if you read cdad you're more than ready for it, yes echos new surname is moretti fight me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:54:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25020454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tyrioo/pseuds/Tyrioo
Summary: Echo wakes up covered in her own blood against that tree. She decides she must crawl back to camp to make sure Genevieve is okay, if it's the last thing she does.
Relationships: Genevieve Moretti/Echo, Genevieve Moretti/Echo Moretti, Genevieve Moretti/Hayden "Echo" Blair
Kudos: 23





	Til The End Of The Earth

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by me bawling while listening to Marina's End of the Earth and thinking about how hard it must have been for Echo to drag her body through the dirt back to camp to then find out Gen was gone.
> 
> Edit: I was still going through the CDAD prompts on Patreon so, imagine my shock when I realised Reye had already written this scene. Out of respect for how cathartic it felt writing this, and for anyone who's not a patron, I will keep this bootleg version up.
> 
> Enjoy!

A soft grunt left my lips as I came to it. I couldn’t quite open my eyes, my whole body too heavy and numb. It took me a while to start forming a coherent thought and even remember what had happened. The trap, the cage, the ferals on me, Genevieve…

Genevieve.

I remembered her arms around me as I lost my strength and her tears falling on me and her trembling voice begging me to stay. I forced myself to open my eyes. The sun was still out so it couldn’t have been too long since I passed out. I thought I’d be dead by now. Had I already turned? Was this the beginning of my worst nightmare? Or maybe I was still in the process of turning. The panic took over me and forced my body awake.

But Genevieve and the others were out there fighting Jed’s gang and I had to make sure he didn’t hurt her. Even if it was the last thing I did. Even if I turned and they had to put me down. Even if the last thing my conscious mind managed was to bite Jed into oblivion. I couldn’t let him lay a finger on her. She was too important.

From my barely open lids I could see an alarming amount of blood over my chest and arms. I tried moving but even the meek first attempt made me aware of the intense pain all over. Every bite on me felt like fire. I coughed and some blood spilled from my mouth. I wiped my bottom lip slowly, with a trembling hand.

Genevieve’s bloody shirt next to me reminded me I couldn’t just stand there forever. I tried lifting myself with my arms but there wasn’t enough strength left in them so I put some of my weight against the tree and managed to rise a halfway before my whole body fell pathetically on the grass with a thud. My frustrated grunt just made my lungs ache and I coughed again.

I lay there for a minute trying to focus on anything other than the numbing pain. Suddenly, I heard an explosion from the camp’s direction. This gave me the last push needed to start dragging my body through the dirt towards the camp. Towards her. What if she was getting hurt as I lay there? I couldn’t let myself die without knowing she was okay.

Ignoring the gut-wrenching throbbing every part of my body felt, I threw an arm above my head and pushed with my legs until I had moved a few inches forward. It wasn’t much but it was progress. I could hear gunshots in the distance. I thought of Genevieve every time I pushed forward. I could think of nothing else, then. Even though my way back to camp felt like it was taking forever. Even though the sun was starting to set as I finally saw the entrance of the camp before me. My panic that she could be hurt or even dead was so overwhelming that the excruciating pain, the dirt in my mouth and wounds, the short breaths I could barely manage were not enough to stop me. I had to get to her.

I kept throwing my arms in front of me, glancing forward every now and then to see how far I still was. After all that had happened. After all the time it had taken her to forgive me. After I had faced my worst fear for her. After all the fighting and still being there for each other despite how messy everything was. After she had finally let her guard down with me. After all we had been through together, I could not let it end like this. I could not let her get hurt.

As I got closer to the gate, I saw two guards posted there who seemed to notice me. One of them said something to the other and walked up to me with his rifle pointed at my face. He stopped a few steps away from me and squinted as he was about to press the trigger.

“Wait.” I said, weakly.

It was all I could manage before I started panting irregularly, just staring at him. I didn’t move. I could barely keep my head lifted to look him in the eye. He raised his eyebrows and kept his rifle pointed without firing.

“Shit.” He lowered his weapon after a few seconds. “You’re still alive?”

“Yeah.” I gave him a brief nod and swallowed hard. “Gen…”

My mind was yelling her name but my body could not form the words. I needed to know if she was alright. I needed to see her. Even if it was one last time. Even if it was to die in her arms one more time as she begged me to stay.

“Is Gen…” I panted and dropped my head in my arms. I heard his footsteps getting closer to me. “Gen.”

The sound barely left my lips as a murmur as my head started spinning. I felt the soldier’s arms wrap beneath my body and lift me as I lost consciousness.

I woke up to the sound of chatting around me. I couldn’t move at first, not even to open my eyes, so I listened. I could hear April and Samuel arguing about something. I hoped they would mention Genevieve but after a few minutes I forced my eyes open so I could try to ask about her.

“She’s awake!” Samuel turned to April and Casey, who immediately came over.

“How is it even possible… You poor thing.” April murmured as she stopped by my side. As she gave me a sip of water she said to Casey. “Go get Blake.”

I choked on the small sip and the water was mixed with blood as it was propelled forward. It made the rest of my body shake painfully, reminding me of how broken it was. As April cleaned my face, I noticed my arms covered in bandages.

I wanted to ask about Genevieve and Jed and the base but I could only move my eyes, and with great effort. From what I could gather, they must have managed to take back the base since the room we were in was inside our medical facility. There were no other patients in the room, though, which could be a good or a bad thing. Seeing that both of our doctors and even April were here, tending to me, I thought it should be a sign that they weren’t needed elsewhere.

I observed the doctor taking notes for a while until Blake barged in. He looked from Casey to me with a concerned look in his eye.

“Oh, thank goodness.” He took his hands to his head as he sighed with relief.

When he looked at me again, I could tell that his eyes were watery. He took my hand in his as he sat by my side.

“Fuck.” He gave my hand a light squeeze. “You really are a fighter.”

It took every ounce of strength left in me to say “Gen…” The word had no sound as my lips moved. But he understood. He furrowed his eyebrows and shared a concerned look with Casey. April and Samuel were tense too.

My world fell. I had been too late and Jed had gotten to her and now the one left alone in this world was I. My eyes immediately welled up even though I had no strength to sob. I had failed. I had failed and there was nothing left for me in this world. Not her, I kept thinking. I had sacrificed myself for her and I would do it again if I could but it was too late.

They seemed to notice my grief because Blake quickly followed it up.

“She’s alive, Echo. She’s okay.”

My relief was so overwhelming that even more tears spilled from my eyes until I couldn’t see the people around me.

“She…” He hesitated. “She thought you…”

I was hanging on to his every word even though I couldn’t see beyond the watery curtain.

“She left.” He cleared his throat. It was so quiet for a few seconds that I could barely tell that I had company. “She left the base right after she took care of Jed.”

This broke my heart in a new way. She thought I was dead and she left everybody she knew to go grieve on her own. Or to go die on her own. This thought sent a shiver down my spine. I had to go find her. She was out there and somehow, we were both still alive and I had to find her. And I would’ve started looking that very second if my body could move at all. Instead, I just laid there with tears in my eyes until Blake, Casey and April left. Samuel stayed to look after me. He kept writing on his notebook, looking up at me every now and then. Eventually, the crying ceased. And eventually, I fell asleep from exhaustion.

I woke up the next day, or at least it felt like the next day. Samuel was there again. Or still there. I wasn’t sure. He changed my bandages and I finally saw how torn my arms really were. Then, even though I still could barely speak, I asked him if I was turning. He had an concerned albeit slightly enthusiastic look in his eye as he told me that I didn’t have a fever when they found me and that I hadn’t had one since. That it seemed that somehow I had survived the bites. He said that he was keeping a close eye on me to see if it was possible to find a cure from the information he was gathering but that he was still unsure how I was still alive.

That made two of us since my survival shocked me more than anyone else. I thought to myself I didn’t even deserve it. Me, of all people, surviving a feral attack. I thought about how scared I had been fighting those ferals and how my heart broke the moment I felt the first bite. How my heart broke as I laid there against that tree thinking of what I was about to become, fearing the worst. How I had wished to bleed out fast so I wouldn’t have to turn into a monster.

But it had all been worth it. She was alive. I could still find her. As soon as my body allowed it.

The next day I asked Blake to send a search party after her. He looked as sad as I felt as he told me he couldn’t do that until he was sure the base was safe. But that he believed she would be alright until we could go after her.

“Just focus on getting better so you can go find her yourself, yeah?” He had said to me.

I nodded and sighed deeply. I knew it would take at least a few weeks before I could get back on my feet. As he headed towards the door, I turned to him again.

“Blake?” He hummed his reply as he looked at me. “Thank you.”

A smile formed on his lips even though I could see a trace of sadness in his eyes. She had left him behind, too. As I mimicked his smile a sharp pain took over, starting from my head.

I grunted loudly and fell to the floor. From the corner of my eye I could see Samuel take a few steps backwards. Blake also took a step back and pointed his gun at me. This was it. A few days had passed so I had been growing hopeful… But this was it. I was finally turning. And in my pain, I could barely focus on anything else. I took my hands to my head as if it could make it stop and bent over my knees. After everything, I was still going to turn into one of those things. At least Blake was ready to make sure I wouldn’t hurt anyone. But the thought broke my heart all over again. I shouted in agony as they watched me in silent shock. I felt a hunger like anything I had ever experienced. It was anything but human. It was despair, more than hunger. It was taking over every ounce of me with the strength of a blazing sun. I couldn’t fight it. It was too strong.

As I was ready to say goodbye to my humanity, my only thought was of her. All of this, and I could never see her again. I wanted to curse the universe for how unfair that felt, for how miserable and helpless it made me. But as quickly as it had started, it died down.

I lay on the floor, panting some life back into me. Or the resemblance of. As it hit me that I was irrevocably infected, my empty stomach convulsed violently. I threw up the little water that I had managed to drink earlier.

“Echo..?” Blake didn’t move as he said it. I could hear the fear in his voice.

I panted for a few more seconds before I could reply. “I’m still me. I think.”

This seemed to bring some relief to him and the doctor, who slowly approached me.

“Can you control your body at all?” Samuel asked as he grabbed his notebook. The he turned to Blake. “Go fetch April and Casey.”

I moved my arms in front of my face to make sure. “Yeah. I think it’s over now.” I shifted so I could rest on my back with a hand over my forehead. “But, doc… I think it took over during that whole time.”

He wrote it down and when I glanced at him, I could tell he had a million new questions in mind.

When the others came back, they helped me back onto the stretcher and cuffed me to it. I had no objections, of course, since hurting someone was the last thing I wanted. They kept me cuffed for a few weeks until we could understand the headaches better. And until I could fight them enough anytime one came, just so I wouldn’t hurt anyone in that state. All I had to do was focus on not moving until it passed. This eased our minds, somewhat. I was still infected but I could live in the base, live near other people. And the research was helping Samuel get some answers. After many sessions we realised that the drugs Jed had given me were the missing key to the mystery of my survival.

But I still had to find her. She was somewhere out there, thinking I was dead or undead. Thinking Jed had won, in a way.

I had to find her and bring her back home to the base. Back home to me.


End file.
